Windows and Mirrors - a reflection on war

On Friday, David and I went to a traveling mural project based on the war in Afghanistan. It's called Windows and Mirrors and it's been created by the American Friends Service Committee. I had prepared myself ahead of time...I don't like war. I don't like movies based on war. I don't like seeing images of war. It's all very difficult for me and unsettling. In my opinion, war is a terrible thing. It separates loved ones, it divides countries, it makes people powerless over their own lives, it somehow justifies the taking of life, and it easily creates enemies. This war is now the longest in US history, taking the lives of more than 1,500 American troops and over 8,000 Afghan civilians, and costing the US nearly $2 billion every week. I think one of the most difficult things about going to Windows and Mirrors was accepting my role in this war. I'm an American. I pay taxes. I contribute. Like it or not.

If you've got the time and heart, I encourage you to look at some of these pictures that were drawn by high school students in Kabul. They were asked to draw pictures of their experience with war. What's the old saying? A picture is worth a thousand words...
There was one mural in particular that struck me. It was a web of homes and people and smoke. And the caption read:

"First world, third world - we seem to float on different planes - but, really, it's just this one world. Here we are, sheltered in our intact homes, caught up in the bustle of our lives. Little by little, we have covered it up - that web running through us all...it's abstract - a war happening in another country foreign and distant, but it's up to us to make it realistic - tangible. We must imagine our homes in piles of rubble - our cities up in smoke."

I think this speaks to me on many levels. We can so easily live on a different plane, distant and distracted from the plight of our brothers and sisters all over the world. Our first world status can become a crutch, disabling us from seeing the pain that we are connected to. Disabling us from working to create a change, a better way.